Getting Started

Holarch is a model-based systems engineering workbench built on the Lifecycle Modeling Language (LML). Requirements, functions, architecture, interfaces, tests, risks and decisions live in one model, and every page is a view of that model. A change made on one page (for example renaming a function on a diagram) shows on every other page that uses the same item.

This page covers signing in, the parts of the window, how to move between pages, and the settings that change how the window looks. It ends with a guided tour of the CubeSat EO-1 demo project.

Concepts

• Project: one model with its own requirements, diagrams, documents and members. You work in one project at a time; switch projects from the project name in the top bar.
• Entity (item): one element of the model, such as a Requirement, an Action (function), an Asset or a Test Case. Every entity has a class, a name, an optional number and description, attributes and relationships. See Model and Database.
• Lifecycle groups: the navigation rail groups pages in the order of the systems engineering lifecycle: Home, Needs & Requirements, Behavior, Architecture, Interfaces, Verification, Risk & Decisions, Plan & Deliver, Frameworks and Whiteboards.
• Overview page: each lifecycle group (except Home) has an overview page with live numbers, a card per page and its recent diagrams.
• Editor: a page that edits one item, such as a diagram, document, whiteboard, entity, chart or presentation. Open editors stay as editor tabs under the top bar.
• Inspector: the panel on the right that shows the properties of the selected item on any page.
• Role: your access to a project: Owner (edits, shares, transfers and deletes the project), Editor (edits content and restores earlier versions) or Viewer (reads and exports; cannot change anything).
• Saving: every change is saved to the Holarch server automatically and can be undone. There is no Save button.

How to use it

When and why

Start here the first time you use Holarch, and come back when you need to find a page or a setting. The shell (rail, top bar, tabs and inspector) is the same on every page, so learning it once lets you move through the whole lifecycle: capture requirements, derive functions, build the architecture, define interfaces, verify, manage risk and deliver.

Sign in for the first time

1. Open the invitation email from Holarch and click its link. Invitations are valid for 7 days.
2. On Create your account, check the email address (it is filled in and cannot be changed), enter Your name (shown to other members), a Password and Repeat the password.
3. Read the data restriction and select its checkbox. Create Account stays disabled until it is selected.
4. Click Create Account. Holarch shows "Account created." and opens the project you were invited to on its Home page, or Manage Projects for an account invitation.

If you already have an account, the invitation opens Join project instead: enter your password and click Sign In and Accept. See Signing In for every screen.

Open the demo project

1. Open Manage Projects at the bottom of the rail.
2. Click Project Files ▾ → Create Demo Project. Holarch builds the CubeSat EO-1 model (a 6U earth observation satellite) and opens it on Home.
3. Read Needs attention. In a new demo project the cards show 6 Suspect links, 1 Overdue TBDs (of 3 open items), 2 Failing tests (TC-04 Pointing Accuracy Test and TC-09 Safe Mode Entry Test), 0 TPM breaches, 2 High risks (RK-1 Reaction Wheel Failure and RK-3 Launch Slip), 32 Model checks (0 errors, 32 warnings) and Save status Saved. The exact numbers can change as the demo content grows.

Create Sample Project in the same menu builds a smaller drone delivery model.

Move around the model

1. Click a group in the rail, for example Needs & Requirements. Its overview page opens and the rail lists the group's pages under it: Documents, Requirements, Quality, TBD/TBR, Suspect Links, Approvals and Import.
2. Click Documents, then open EO-1 System Requirements Specification. The document opens in an editor tab under the top bar.
3. Click requirement 3.1 Orbit Average Power in the document. The inspector on the right shows its attributes, relationships and comments.
4. Press ⌘K and type deploy. The palette lists the function Deploy Solar Arrays under Items. Press Enter to open it in the Entity View, which opens as a second editor tab.
5. Click the first tab to return to the document. The tabs stay open after a reload.

Find what needs attention

1. Click the problems button (the warning icon with a number) in the top bar. The Problems list shows each open problem, for example "1 · Overdue TBDs — …".
2. Click an entry. Holarch opens the page that holds the data, here TBD/TBR.
3. The same counts appear as badges on the rail groups, so you can see from any page which stage has problems.

Work through the lifecycle

Follow the groups from top to bottom. Each step has its own reference page and how-to:

1. Capture requirements in a document or import them: Documents, Requirements, Import and Export.
2. Check their quality, resolve TBD/TBR items and get them approved: Requirements.
3. Derive functions and a functional flow: Turn Requirements into Functions and an FFBD.
4. Build the architecture and interfaces: Build the Architecture and Produce an ICD.
5. Plan and run verification, and trace coverage: Traceability, Set Up Verification.
6. Manage risks and decisions: Risk Register, Trade Study.
7. Baseline and deliver: Produce a Review Package.

Worked example: a first session with CubeSat EO-1

1. Create the demo project as above. On Home, the Lifecycle cards show each group's main number: for example 32 requirements (18 approved · 9 in review), 79 functions (28 of 32 requirements allocated) and 11 of 32 verified (3 failed · 3 without a test).
2. Click the Needs & Requirements card. The overview shows the requirement count with a progress bar of approved requirements, the number of documents, open TBD/TBR items with the number overdue, suspect links and requirements awaiting approval.
3. Click the suspect links tile. Suspect Links lists the links of requirements changed after the SRR Baseline. Each one needs a review.
4. Press ⌘K, type 6.5 and open 6.5 Planning Cycle Time. Its status is In Review, and it has a Measure but no simulation result yet.
5. In the rail, open Behavior → Simulator and choose Run Nominal Imaging Pass to check the 100-minute requirement (see Simulate and Check Against a Requirement).
6. Press ⌘. to enter focus mode while you read a diagram, and Esc to leave it.
7. Click the ? in the top bar on any page to open the Help topic for that page.

Tips and good practice

• Use ⌘K instead of the rail when you know the name: it finds pages, items by name or number, documents, diagrams, whiteboards and actions such as New Requirement… or Export RVTM (Excel).
• Pin the inspector (⌥⌘\) while you review many items in a row, so it stays open between selections.
• Collapse the rail to icons only (⌘\) on a laptop screen. In Preferences, set Navigation in diagram and whiteboard editors to Hidden to give editors the full width while other pages keep the rail.
• Close tabs you no longer need with Close Other Tabs in the tab list (▾). At most 30 tabs are kept.
• Every edit is one undo step. Use ⌘Z freely; the top bar's Undo and Redo show whether there is anything to undo.

Common mistakes

• "View only: ask an owner for edit access." You opened a project as a Viewer. Ask an owner to change your role in Share; see Viewer mode.
• The inspector disappeared. You hid it with × or Esc. Click the edge tab Inspector · … at the right, or the inspector button in the top bar.
• The rail disappeared. It is in the hidden state. Point at the left edge of the window, click the rail button at the start of the top bar, or press ⌘\.
• Keys do nothing. Shortcuts are ignored while a text field has focus. Click an empty part of the page or press Esc first. ⌘K works in plain text fields too.
• No AI answer. AI needs a key. See AI control.

How it connects

The shell connects every feature. The rail and overview pages follow the lifecycle, the problem counts come from the same checks as Suspect Links, TBD/TBR, Test Center, Budgets & TPMs, Risk Register and Model Checks, and the inspector shows the same entity panel as the Database (see Model and Database). Everything the palette and Help know comes from the same navigation model, so a page in the rail can always be found with ⌘K.

The window

The window has four parts:

• the navigation rail on the left,
• the top bar at the top, with editor tabs under it when editors are open,
• the page in the middle,
• the inspector on the right.

A Skip to content link is the first stop for Tab and moves focus to the page.

Navigation rail

Contents

• Holarch logo at the top: opens Home (or Manage Projects when no project is open).
• Lifecycle groups: Home, Needs & Requirements, Behavior, Architecture, Interfaces, Verification, Risk & Decisions, Plan & Deliver, Frameworks and Whiteboards. Click a group to open its overview page (Home opens the Home page). The current group lists its pages under it.
• More: appears only when an installed page belongs to no group.
• Tools at the bottom:
  • Database: every entity in one table.
  • Diagrams: every diagram.
  • Settings: Preferences…, ✦ AI Settings… and Schema.
  • Help: Help Center, Keyboard Shortcuts, LML Primer and About Holarch.
  • Manage Projects: the project list.
  • The rail toggle button (its label names the next state: Collapse to icons, Hide navigation or Expand navigation).
• Data note at the very bottom: "Not for CUI, ITAR/EAR or classified information". Point at it for the full restriction.

Without an open project, only Help and Manage Projects are available.

Pages of each group

Requirements, Approvals, Assets, Items & I/O and Decisions are the Database pre-filtered to one class or status (for example Approvals shows requirements whose Status is In Review).

Badges

A badge on a group counts its problems:

In the icons-only state, a dot on the icon marks a group with problems. Screen readers announce the count with the group name, for example "Verification, 2 problems".

The three states

• Press ⌘\, click the rail toggle at the bottom of the rail, or run Cycle Navigation Rail from the palette. The order is expanded → icons only → hidden → expanded. A short message confirms the new state, for example "Navigation hidden. Point at the left edge to show it."
• Peek: when the rail is hidden, point at the left edge of the window, or click the rail button at the start of the top bar (Show navigation). The rail slides in over the page and hides again when the pointer (or keyboard focus) leaves it.
• Your choice is kept in this browser. Until you choose, the rail is expanded above 1280 px and icons only at 1280 px and narrower.
• Editors can have their own state: in Preferences, Navigation in diagram and whiteboard editors can be Same as other pages (default), Expanded, Icons only or Hidden. With an editor setting, the state you choose in a diagram or whiteboard editor applies to editors only.

Rail keyboard

• ↑ ↓ move between visible entries; Home and End jump to the first and last.
• → on a group moves into its pages (inline when expanded, the flyout when icons only).
• ← returns from the pages to the group.
• Esc closes an open flyout (Settings, Help) and returns to its button.
• Enter opens the focused entry.

Top bar

From left to right:

Project menu

Click the project name at the start of the breadcrumb:

• Pinned Projects: projects you pinned, marked 📌.
• Recent Projects: up to 12 other projects, most recently opened first.
• Pin This Project / Unpin This Project.
• Share Project…: members and roles (see Viewer mode and Sharing and Roles).
• Project Storage…: attachment storage of this project and its limit.
• Create a New Project…
• Project Version Control: opens Baselines & Versions.
• Manage Projects.

Problems list

Click the problems button to recount and list every problem: each entry shows the count, the card title and the details, for example "2 · Failing tests — TC-04 Pointing Accuracy Test, TC-09 Safe Mode Entry Test". Click an entry to open its page. With no problems the list shows No problems found. Open Home is always at the end. The button's tooltip reads "No problems found" or "n problems".

Problems counted: suspect links, overdue TBD/TBR items, failing test cases, TPM breaches, high risks and model check errors (model check warnings show on Home but are not problems).

Save status

When a change cannot be saved and the browser cannot keep a copy either, a red banner appears: "Changes are not saved. Do not close this page." with Retry and Download a copy (a project JSON file). It cannot be dismissed while the problem lasts.

Account menu

Click your initials:

• the header with your name and email address,
• Account Settings: name, email, password, signed-in devices, invitations, AI keys and account deletion (see Your Account),
• AI Settings…,
• Admin (site administrators) or Organization Settings (organization administrators),
• Sign Out.

AI control

There is one AI control on every project page, at the top bar.

• ✦ AI opens the Ask AI panel: ask about this project or about how to use Holarch. Type a question and press Enter to send; ⇧Enter adds a new line. An empty panel offers examples such as "Which requirements have no verifying test case?" The panel header has AI settings (⚙), Clear conversation (⟲) and Close (×). The panel closes when you leave the project.
• ▾ lists the AI tools of the current page (for example quality review or function extraction), then AI Settings…. Pages without AI tools show only ✦ AI.
• In narrow windows the control shows as the sparkle and ▾.
• The same tools appear in the palette under AI tools for this page, with Ask AI… and AI Settings….
• AI changes to the model are always shown as a preview first and applied as one undo step.

The control is off when:

See AI and Ask AI and AI Tools.

Command palette

Press ⌘K or click Search in the top bar.

• Type to search. Results are grouped: Pages, Open Tabs (only when nothing is typed), Actions, Items, Documents, Diagrams and Whiteboards.
• Pages match page titles and their alternative words (for example n2 finds N² Diagrams, srs finds Documents). Group overviews appear as the group name with Overview.
• Items match an entity's name or number; a number match ranks higher. Each item shows its class with its class color. Selecting one opens its Entity View.
• Actions include New Requirement…, New Entity…, New Document…, Create Diagram…, New Whiteboard, Export RVTM (Excel), Reports…, Generate Risks with AI…, Ask AI…, the AI tools of the page, Share Project…, Project Storage…, Account Settings, Sign Out, Undo, Redo, Cycle Navigation Rail, Focus Mode, Pin Inspector, Toggle Dark Theme, Toggle Compact Density, Preferences…, AI Settings…, Switch Project…, Keyboard Shortcuts and About Holarch, plus actions of the current page (for example the whiteboard's commands). Administrators also see the administration actions.
• ↑ ↓ move, Enter runs the selected result, Esc or a click outside closes the palette. Matching text is highlighted.
• With no match: "No matches for "text". Try a requirement number, a page name or an action."
• Without an open project, the palette searches pages and actions only.

Editor tabs

Diagrams, documents, whiteboards, entities, charts and presentations you open stay as tabs under the top bar. Each tab shows an icon, the item name and its kind (for example Document or the diagram type).

• Tabs are kept per project in this browser and come back after a reload.
• Click a tab to switch to it. Close it with its × or a middle-click. Closing the current tab opens the next tab, or the list page of its kind when it was the last.
• Drag tabs to reorder them. From the keyboard, focus a tab and press ⌥⇧← or ⌥⇧→.
• ← → move between tabs; Delete or Backspace closes the focused tab.
• The ▾ at the end (with the number of tabs) lists Open Tabs (the current one marked •), Close Other Tabs and Close All Tabs.
• Tabs of deleted items are removed. At most 30 tabs are kept; opening more drops the oldest.

Inspector

Select an item on a page (a Database row, a document item, a diagram shape, an RVTM or register row, a matrix header) to see its details on the right: attributes, relationships, comments and metadata. Diagram and whiteboard selections show their properties. With nothing selected, a pinned inspector shows "Select an item to see its properties here."

Selecting another item opens a hidden inspector again. Width and pin state are kept in this browser. See Model and Database for the entity panel in full.

Focus mode

Press ⌘., click the focus button in the top bar, or run Focus Mode from the palette. The rail, top bar, tabs and inspector are hidden so only the page remains. Leave with Esc, ⌘. again, or Exit focus at the top of the window.

Home and overview pages

Home

Home is the project's start page. The Holarch logo also opens it.

• Needs attention: health cards. Each opens the page that holds the data.

• Lifecycle: one card per group with its main number and a bar where it applies; click it for the group's overview.
• Continue where you left off: open tabs and recent documents (up to 6). Empty: "Nothing opened yet. Open a document, diagram or whiteboard to list it here."
• Next actions: up to 6 of the most urgent items, in this order: rerun or fix failing test cases, close TPM breaches, review suspect links, resolve overdue TBD/TBR items, mitigate high risks, assign a verifying test to unverified requirements, fix model check errors, and "Write or import the first requirements" in an empty project. With nothing open: "No open actions. The model has no failing tests, breaches, suspect links or overdue TBDs."
• Page actions: Dashboard (your own widget board, see Customize the Dashboard) and Continue: … (opens the most recent item).

The counts update shortly after each change.

Overview pages

Click a lifecycle group in the rail (or a Lifecycle card on Home) to open its overview. Each overview has:

• Live numbers for the group. The first tile is highlighted; each tile opens its page.

• Pages: a card for each page of the group with a one-line description.
• Diagrams: up to 12 recent diagrams of the group's types, and a link for each diagram type. Empty: "No diagrams of these types yet. Create one from Diagrams."

Help and About

• ? in the top bar (or ? outside a text field) opens the Help topic for the current page.
• Help in the rail opens Help Center, Keyboard Shortcuts, LML Primer and About Holarch.
• The Help Center has Search the guide… at the top of the topic list. Topics are grouped like the rail: Getting Around Holarch, the lifecycle groups, Working with Others, Settings & AI and Reference. How-tos come first in each group.
• A topic for a page has Open this page →. Without an open project, page topics say "Open a project to use this page."
• Help also works without an open project: open Help in the rail from Manage Projects.
• About Holarch shows the Version, Build and Built date of the running release, a link to What's new in Holarch (the changelog on holarch.app) and how version numbers work: major.minor.patch, where major releases can need action from you, minor releases add features and patch releases only fix problems. Versions below 1.0 are a beta.
• After an update, Holarch shows "Updated to version x.y.z. What's new" once.

The website Help at holarch.app/help has the same topics. This reference documentation expands on them.

Themes and density

Diagram canvases, slides, charts and exports keep light-theme colors in either theme. Both settings are kept in this browser.

Preferences

Open Settings → Preferences… in the rail, or Preferences… in the palette.

Click Done to keep the default time.

Signing in

Holarch needs an account. Accounts are by invitation: a project owner, an organization administrator or the site administrator sends you a link. The sign-in screen appears whenever no one is signed in; it covers the whole window and shows the data restriction at the bottom.

Screens

After signing in, Holarch opens the page you were trying to reach, or Manage Projects.

Passwords

At least 12 and at most 256 characters, not a common password, not in published lists of leaked passwords, and not your email address.

Sessions

• A session ends after 14 days without use, and after 90 days in any case. When it ends, Holarch shows "Your session ended. Sign in again to continue; unsaved changes are kept in this browser." and returns you to the same page after you sign in.
• Sign Out (account menu or palette) removes your cached projects from this browser and shows "Signed out."
• Account Settings → Signed-in devices lists every session with Sign Out, Sign Out Other Devices and Sign Out Everywhere.

Messages

Data restriction

Holarch is not approved for regulated government information. Do not store CUI, export-controlled (ITAR/EAR) or classified information. You confirm this when you create an account or accept an invitation. See Data You Must Not Store Here.

Viewer mode

When your role in a project is Viewer, the project opens in view-only mode:

• A banner under the top bar reads View only "You can read and export this project. Ask an owner for edit access." with Show members.
• Edit buttons (new, add, delete, rename, import, approve and similar), menu items and property fields are disabled, with the tooltip "View only: ask an owner for edit access". Rich-text fields do not open for editing, and dropped files are refused.
• Undo, Redo and the ✦ AI control are disabled ("View only: AI tools need edit access").
• Opening, searching, filtering, zooming, the palette, Help, exports and downloads work as usual.
• Any attempt to change the project shows "View only: ask an owner for edit access." Nothing is saved.
• You can still create your own projects from Manage Projects or the project menu, and open Share to see the members.

An owner changes your role in Share. See Sharing and Working Together.

Shortcuts

On Windows and Linux use Ctrl for ⌘ and Alt for ⌥. Every shortcut is listed in Keyboard Shortcuts.

Limits

• Editor tabs: 30 per project; the oldest is dropped.
• Recent projects in the project menu: 12 (plus all pinned projects).
• Inspector width: 280–600 px.
• Palette results: up to 8 pages, 8 actions, 10 items, 6 documents, 8 diagrams and 6 whiteboards per search.
• Ask AI keeps the last 40 messages of a conversation.
• Invitation links: 7 days. Password reset links: 1 hour. Sessions: 14 days idle, 90 days at most.
• Interface preferences (theme, density, rail, inspector, tabs, pinned projects) are kept per browser, not per account.

Related pages

• Model and Database
• Documents
• Requirements
• Traceability
• Import and Export
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• AI
• Sharing and Working Together
• Your Account
• Help: Getting Around Holarch, Your First Project, Signing In, Preferences